


one out of five cats

by thesilverwitch



Category: Football RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Cats, Fluff, Kissing in the Rain, M/M, Misunderstandings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-13
Updated: 2015-05-27
Packaged: 2018-03-30 09:00:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3930883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thesilverwitch/pseuds/thesilverwitch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Are you going to ask or do you want me to start my speech?” Isco asks, flashing Toni a wide grin.</p><p>Toni sighs. If Isco has a speech prepared it means only one thing. Trouble. “What’s in the box?”</p><p>Isco takes a deep breath. “I may have accidentally adopted five cats.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The super sweet drawings at the end were made by the awesome [anexactscience](https://twitter.com/kissthecrest)!

Toni opens the door and immediately knows he has made a mistake.

“So—“ Isco starts to say before he’s cut off by Toni’s lightning fast reply.

“Absolutely not.”

“Just listen—“

“No, I refuse. You need to leave,” Toni says. He goes to close the door but Isco is faster. He shoves his foot into the space between the door and the frame, then uses his shoulder to push in. Before Toni knows it, Isco is barging into Toni’s one-bedroom apartment like he owns the damn place.

“You haven’t even heard me yet!” Isco replies. Toni shakes his head.

“I don’t need to hear you to know you mean trouble.”

“I resent that statement. For all you know, this box contains a lovely strawberry cake I baked for you.”

Toni frowns. “Two reasons why that’s not true. Number one, you can’t bake or cook anything. You set the stove on fire every time you touch it and you once boiled gatorade because you thought that’s how you made sweet tea. Second, that box has holes in it.”

Isco sighs like Toni’s habit of pointing out clear and obvious facts is emotionally draining for him.

“Alright. Point taken,” he replies, using the opportunity to place the box in his hands on Toni’s coffee table, which is a big no-no. Toni knows from past experience that if Isco gets comfortable, it will be harder to make him leave, and if he can’t make Isco leave then Toni can’t make whatever is in that box leave with him.

“Don’t you have a job? Classes? Other friends to inflict pain on?” Toni asks, arms crossed and shoulders hunched. He remains by the door while Isco sits on Toni’s couch.

Crap, he’s never going to leave now.

“I called in sick. This is more important.”

“How have you not been fired yet?” Toni asks. He takes a few skeptical steps towards the Isco while side-eyeing the box with a pair of wary eyes.

Isco calls in sick from work all the time, often showing up on Toni’s doorstep on that same day with some wild plan he always manages to rope Toni into. Toni usually doesn’t mind (read: he secretly loves it), but there is a limit and that limit is a box with holes currently making soft, whining sounds.

“My boss loves me.” Isco shrugs, leaning back on the couch and propping his legs up on the coffee table. Toni snorts. “Also, Nacho owns me a favor ever since I let him stay over at my place and he vomited all over my couch. He’s gonna cover my shift for me.”

“That sounds a lot more likely,” Toni says. He sits down next to Isco, who doesn’t move an inch, leading to the two of them being pressed together like two sardines in a can since Toni’s couch is far too small to fit two grown men comfortably. Toni had bought it with this exact fault in mind. He knew that if he made his apartment too comfortable all his friends would want to crash there and he’d never have any peace of mind.

Most people, as the logical and self-aware human beings they are, know this and don’t invite themselves over without a good reason. Isco is not most people.

“Are you going to ask or do you want me to start my speech?” Isco asks, flashing Toni a wide grin.

Toni sighs. If Isco has a speech prepared it means only one thing: trouble. “What’s in the box?”

Isco takes a deep breath. “I may have accidentally adopted five cats.”

His words are a lot to process, but eventually they register, one by one. “Five? Why five? Who adopts five cats?” Toni sits forward and opens the cardboard box and indeed, just like Isco said, there are five cats in there.

They’re all little kittens, with a motley of colors on their fur. Three are a soft gray with black and white undertones. Another one is a vivid orange, and then there is one cat, smaller than all the others, with black fur and a single stroke of red on his forehead. Toni may or may not coo at them, curse his loving instincts.

“So you like them?” Isco asks. He’s smiling so hard at Toni that it almost hurts to watch. A ray of light catches in his hair, giving him a soft glow that makes him look like a celestial being. Toni stares for a beat too long.

“I do, but Isco, I can’t keep them. There’s not enough space here and I can’t take care of _five_ cats.” He already struggles with taking care of just himself on most days.

“No, no! I know that!” Isco says. He grabs Toni’s wrist as he speaks, something he’d done from the very first moment they met at university three years ago. “You just need to pick one. I already got owners for all the others. Luka and Cristiano will each get one for their kids. Sergio wanted all of them, but Iker veto’ed that idea so they’re only getting one and I’ll get one of the others, which leaves just one little guy for you.”

Toni nods. That sounds more reasonable. He dutifully ignores the voice in the back of his head telling him how less than ten minutes ago, he had almost slammed the door on Isco’s face to prevent a single animal from entering his apartment. Such was the power of Isco’s warm smile.

Toni points at the box. “Who’s free then?”

“All of them,” he says. When Toni gives him a quizzical look, his smile becomes a little shier. “You’re the first to see them. I spent all morning talking to everyone on the phone about them.”

And if Toni wasn’t sold on the idea of getting a cat before, he definitely is now.

Toni spends a few seconds looking at the box, eventually coming to the conclusion that he knows nothing about kittens and thus has no discernible capacities he can use. He ends up picking the cat with the black fur and the red streak on his head. “Does he have a name?”

“Nah, none of them do. I found the box in an alley on my way to the gym this morning.”

Toni strokes the kitten behind its tiny ears and the little bundle of cuteness makes a soft purring noise in return, curling against Toni’s chest. Toni definitely coos then. “I’ll call him Disco.”

“Disco? Really?” Isco raises both eyebrows at Toni, who grins in reply.

“Really,” he says. Isco grins back.

  



	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter doesn't make a lot of sense since there was another chapter before this written by a friend of mine, but she's since deleted her AO3. Oh well! It's a silly fic so it doesn't matter,

“We’re in the middle of a thunderstorm and you wanna stop to feel the rain?”

Isco turns to him and grins, the corners of his mouth pulling up and outwards, stretching his skin to show off his perfectly white teeth. "Yes," he replies, eyes closing with mirth. The sound of his laughter rings across the rain like music.

Toni stares at him, incredulous, and shakes his head. This is mad. "We're going to get sick," he says, "and then who's going to take care of Disco and Kroos?"

"They're best pals. They'll take care of each other," Isco replies, ever so found of his impossible logic. He reaches for Toni's hand, grabs it and laces their fingers together.

Toni thinks about moving away. He stays where he is.

They're in Salamanca, seventeen subway stations and three changes of subway line away from Isco's apartment and twenty stations from Toni's. If they stay in the street for any longer, by the time they get home they'll be shivering and have icicles growing on their bones.

"Race me towards the park," Isco says.

"Why are you five?" Toni asks even though, in his head, he's already thinking about the odds of him skidding on the wet pavement and falling on his ass.

"Because one of us has to--" Isco says, the rest going amiss when Toni sprints and leaves him eating his dust. "That's cheating!" Isco shouts.

"There are no rules in the game of love!" Toni replies because two can play at the being an asshole.

Neither of them fall, but it's a close call, with them balancing treacherously on the balls of his feet when Isco runs into Toni's back and nearly sends them sprawling on the ground.

"Let's not get a cold and a cracked skull, alright?" Isco asks, scoffing at Toni as he walks ahead of the German. Toni gasps in mock outrage.

"Remind me please of why I'm dating you," he murmurs. His words are not meant to be a real request, but Toni doesn't complain when Isco answers him anyway. He has yet to get tired of hearing Isco say he likes him. Frankly, he doubts he ever will.

"Because I'm a ray of sunshine in your otherwise drab and gray German life. Because you really, really like me. Because I," Isco looks down at Toni's lips, "really, really like you."

Toni kisses him, licks the water drops perched on Isco's mouth and bites the plump flesh of his bottom lip. "Yeah, I guess those are good reasons," he whispers. 

"Tremendous reasons,” Isco says, kissing Toni again. “Also we're celebrating your future promotion."

Toni chuckles and bumps his forehead against Isco's. There's a rumor going around the office that they're finally going to open a new department for interactive technology and make Toni its head engineer. 

"Nothing's been confirmed yet," Toni says. 

"Have faith. You're brilliant. If anyone deserves the job, it's you."

"Thank you, sunshine. What would I do without you?" 

Isco turns around and starts waking into the park. "Die," he says as deadpan as possible.

Toni laughs. "Celebrations usually involve parties and alcohol," he shouts as he catches up to Isco.

"You'll get those later. Right now we're enjoying life. Don't tell me you've never wanted to have a walk in the rain with your partner. You're a romantic sap, Toni Kroos. Don't lie to me."

Toni grabs Isco's hand. "I won't," he says.

They walk through the park, which is usually full but today, for no obvious reason, is empty. They stop by the playground, try to see who can go higher on the swings and go down the slide together. Toni had forgotten how fun it could be to just relax and do whatever for a while.

They make it to Isco's home two hours later, soaked beyond belief and, indeed, shivering and sneezing uncontrollably from the cold.

Disco and Kroos, best pals for life, are napping on the couch together, wrapped around each other in a perfect picture of overwhelming cuteness. They wake up when Toni and Isco slip into the apartment and walk up to them only to move away when they realize their owners are wet and cold.

"Ingrates," Isco scoffs. "They only want us for food and warmth."

"That's all I want you for, too," Toni replies, ducking his head when Isco throws a wet boot at him.

They shower together, leaving the clothes on the floor of the bathtub afterwards because, despite Toni’s best efforts, they’re both ridiculously lazy people and will always be ridiculously lazy people. Leaving the clothes there means they are washed at the same time as them, killing two birds with one stone. It’s also a bit disgusting, but there’s no one around to watch but their cats, and they are so not allowed to judge.

"Do you want Chinese or Vietnamese for dinner?" Isco asks.

"You really need to learn how to cook.”

“And burn down my kitchen? No, thank you, Mr. Kroos. Vietnamese it is. I feel like eating my own weight in steamed rice cakes.”

When they get to the living room, Isco continues walking towards the kitchen and the pile of takeout menus he keeps in one of the drawers. Toni passes out on the couch. He can already feel a slight buzz in the back of his head. His limbs feel heavy and breathing is far harder than it has to be for something so fundamental for human survival. 

"Buy soup," Toni yells. The sound rings in his ears, shaking his skull. He really needs to stop listening to Isco and his brilliantly shitty ideas.

He feels a weight land on his chest and when he opens his eyes to peer at it, Toni sees little Disco, who is not so little anymore with the snacks Isco keeps sneaking to him when he thinks Toni isn’t looking. Disco is staring at him with a curious expression like he knows there’s something wrong with his idiot owner.

“Hello there,” Toni says, reaching for his true best friend and patting him on the head. A few seconds later, another weight lands on his legs and makes its way up Toni’s body like it’s a catwalk.

Toni pets Kroos, which is still a weird name, let it be known, with his free hand.

It must be said: life with cats is significantly better than life without cats.

“I got you Phở soup and some spring rolls,” Isco says as he walks back into the living room.

“You are my favorite,” Toni replies. He lifts his legs for a second, giving Isco enough space to sit down, then promptly drops them again on Isco’s lap.

"Already knew that, but thanks for reminding me," Isco replies.

Their food arrives later, after Toni’s fallen asleep watching the home renovation show Isco adores. Their cats are still lying on top of him. Toni is still a bit weirded out about how quickly Disco and Kroos had become _their_ cats and not Toni and Isco’s cats. He likes it, if he’s honest. Back in university, he never had time to date anyone properly, much less adopt a pet with them.

This, though, this easy familiarity; this comfort, well, it’s quite nice.

Before, when he’d thought about being more than just a friend to Isco, he thought it would ruin their relationship. That things would be awkward and eventually they would fight and break up and make everything weird for their group of friends. Since then, four months have come and gone and nothing’s changed. They still bicker all the time .Still laugh at and with each other. Still live in each other’s pockets.

The only real difference is that now, when Toni thinks of Isco, he thinks of his boyfriend and not his best friend. Now, he doesn’t have to stop himself when he feels like reaching for Isco and kissing him. Now, it’s even easier to breathe.

Toni goes to bed after eating dinner, Disco and Kroos trailing after him even though they know they’re not allowed on the bed. “We need to be more strict with them,” Toni thinks out loud.

“No we don’t,” Isco says.

Toni slips into bed and finds two pairs of green eyes peering at him before they settle on the pillow next to his. Alright. Maybe they don’t.

The next morning, Toni wakes up with a splitting headache, a stuffed nose and a sore throat. It’s truly a tragedy that he doesn’t even have it in him to be mad at Isco. He just groans and allows Isco to pet his head and mumble soft apologies before he gets Toni cold medicine and the leftovers from yesterday’s soup.


	3. Chapter 3

From Isco's POV.

: :

Isco gets home embarrassingly late after a night out with Dani, Nacho and the other guys. Despite Isco’s insistence, Toni hadn’t come with him, waving him off with some excuse about being tired. Isco wasn’t sure what that was about, Toni seemed to get along well with Isco’s friends. They weren’t yet _their_ friends, but they were getting there.

Isco’s shoes are discarded by the front door and his keys on the couch, although Isco is careful not to hit Disco and Kroos, who are sleeping there together. Why he and Toni even bothered getting cat beds for their cats when the two little jerks always sleep on the couch is beyond them. Isco walks to the kitchen, planning to get a glass of water before he tries to slip inconspicously into bed.

He does not—it bears repeating, he does _not_ —scream like a goat when he sees Toni leaning against the sink, hidden in the half-darkness. He lets out a small noise. A manly growl. A sort of deep shout.

“I think I just pissed myself,” Isco says, walking towards the fridge. He takes out the water bottle he always keeps there, then glances at Toni when he realizes his boyfriend has yet to say a word. “Toni? You alright?”

“We need to talk,” Toni replies and the water bottle in Isco’s hand slips, falling on the floor before he can catch it. Thankfully, the cap is still on, but the noise it makes is enough to startle them both.

“Okay,” Isco agrees, even though he has no idea what he’s setting himself up to, even though he doesn’t, in fact, want to talk, not when it’s that’s the conversation starter.

“Maybe we should turn on the light,” Toni suggests. Before he can walk to the switch, Isco is there, his impatience getting the best of him in his still slightly inabrieated state.

“Did I do something?” he asks.

“DId you—“ Toni starts to ask before he cuts himself a sharp laugh. “Did you do something? Yeah, I’d say you did, unless you really are that disconnected from this relationship that you didn’t even notice.”

Isco frowns, having trouble keeping up with the conversation.

“Hey, I’m with you, okay? Always,” he says, needing to make sure Toni knows, needing to say out loud the words he’s thought so often.

Toni laughs, but he doesn’t sound amused. Far from it. “You could have just told me you weren’t interested anymore,” he says.

“What?” Isco stares at Toni and the way he keeps shaking his head.

“I’m not an asshole. I understand. I just wish you would have been honest with me instead of going behind my back and having a date with someone else,” Toni looks at Isco, a windwirl of emotions in  the slant of his eyebrows and the curve of his pinched lips.

“What the fuck? I’m not dating anyone else. Why would you say that?” 

“Because Mario saw you two last week while he was in Madrid. He said you went out on a coffee date with some good-looking guy.” Toni exhales, so loudly Isco can hear him over the sound of his heart beating. “I don’t know where I went wrong, but I wish you’d told me.”

Isco continues staring at Toni like he’s grown a second head. Last week? Who had he gone out with last week? Toni’s friend, Mario, stayed with them for a couple of days so Isco had spent most of his time hanging out with them. The only time he’d gone out without them was for a lunch meeting with James about their project for Electronics class.

If there was a lightbulb on top of Isco’s head, it would turn on right now.

“That guy Mario saw, did he perhaps have short, brown hair, slightly spiked? A Colombian accent? A name that starts with ‘J’, ends with ‘ames’? Is he perhaps someone who we both know and who works with me?” Isco crosses his arms. “Because I think that’s who it might be.”

Their roles reversed, Toni is now the one doing the incredulous staring.

“He said you were really touchy with each other… Like on a date.”

“It was a lunch meeting. He showed me some plans on his tablet and I had to lean over him to see because he’s James, and he can’t not be the one to explain and describe every little thing that he does,” Isco says, letting out a small sigh of relief when he’s finished. He definitely needs an aspiring after this.

“Oh,” Toni says.

“Oh,” Isco replies, which isn’t the nicest thing he could at the time but it’s four in the morning and he doesn’t even know where this whole thing came from. “Where did this whole thing come from? We’ve being going steady and strong for six months and suddenly you think I’m going to ditch you because your German friend saw me with someone he didn’t know? Ignoring the fact that he literally only knows Iker and Sergio, and that’s because they showed up at our doorstep announced in need of someone to catsit for them.” 

“Now that you mention it, it does sound kind of dumb.” Toni scratches the back of his head, looking away.

Isco takes a sip of his water. “Yupe, it really does.” He gives Toni a searching look. Part of him is telling him to end this conversation on the spot and just go to bed like he desperatly wants to, but another part of him has him wanting to stay there and see this ‘till the end. “Wanna talk about it?” he asks.

Toni shrugs. “I know I haven’t been around much lately because of work, and then Mario decided to show up out of nowhere last week and I still don’t get along well with your friends because I can’t understand what they’re saying half the time and just. I worried.”

“Well, next time, before you do any of that, talk to me first, please. I know you’re busy at work and I understand. It’s fine. I drink ten espressos a day during finals. I am no one to judge.”

Isco pulls Toni forward. Toni tries to hide his face in Isco’s neck, but the height difference makes it a little bit hard, and they end up as they always do, with Isco leaning on him. 

“Okay,” Toni says. 

Isco squeezes his ass—everyone has their own ways of showing affection—and takes a step back. “Good, now let’s go to bed, shall we? I’m pretty much dead on my feet. We’ll continue this conversation in the morning. Talk about our feelings like the mature, responsible adults we are.”

“Sounds good to me.”


End file.
